France will host the next European fencing championships (June 16-21) in Antony (Hauts-de-Seine) against a backdrop of international tensions, as indicated by L’Equipe. If the 2026 edition was initially allocated to Tallinn, the international fencing federation (FIE) decided to withdraw it due to the refusal of the Estonian government to let Russian athletes enter its territory due to geopolitical tensions between the two countries since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Faced with the obligation to find another host city five months before the deadline, France has positioned itself, like Georgia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey, and submitted an application file to the European Fencing Confederation on Monday. It leaned towards the French candidacy on Tuesday during an executive committee meeting.
“They have already organized a European circuit and have facilities ready to host European championships,” explains the president of the French Fencing Federation, Rémy Delhomme. We also needed a city close to Paris in the international dimension of our candidacy. »
“We apply the decisions of the IOC”
The international fencing federation (FIE), historically close to Russia, was the first to reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes under a neutral banner in March 2023. The decision was strongly criticized by some athletes and several countries, including France, had canceled competitions organized on their soil. The 2023 edition of the European Championships was split between Bulgaria, which accepted the Russians and Belarusians for the individual events, and Poland, which refused them for the team events. None of these athletes had participated in the Paris Olympics in 2024.
The Russians have since participated in the individual and collective events of the 2025 World Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia, under a neutral banner and without their country’s anthem in the event of a coronation. For now, it is still under these conditions that they will be able to commit to Antony.
“There is no subject, we apply the rules of the International Olympic Committee,” emphasizes Rémy Delhomme. France, which will also host the 2028 edition of the competition in Bourges, must now complete its budget for the organization of this event
The French public should be able to find the French headliners of the discipline such as the Olympic saber champion Manon Apithy, her runner-up from the Grand Palais Sara Balzer or even the foilists Enzo Lefort, who withdrew from his first World Cup since the 2024 Olympics this weekend in Paris, and Ysaora Thibus.
Worth a look
